One of the last vestiges of Mo Johnston’s reign was unceremoniously swept out
of town Friday, opening the possibility that the darkness that has engulfed
Toronto FC since Day 1 may just be a passing cloud and not the eternal night
that many predicted it to be.

Julian de Guzman, the club’s first
designated player thanks to the chequebook-happy ways of the former director of
soccer, will now call Texas home after being traded to FC Dallas in exchange for
forward Andrew Wiedeman.

While TFC head coach Paul Mariner raised a few eyebrows in a conference call
Friday in talking up the new acquisition as “one of the best finishers I’ve seen
in the modern era,” in truth this deal was all about freeing up the DP slot to
be used on something more in keeping with the original intent of the rule.
Designated players are supposed to be difference makers in Major League Soccer,
something that can be plainly seen every time former German international
midfielder Torsten Frings takes the field for TFC, and something that
de Guzman consistently failed to deliver in the
same role in 65 games for Toronto.

In fact, it was the play of Frings, plus
the good vein of form currently being enjoyed by Canadian international
midfielder Terry Dunfield
alongside him, that forced de Guzman firstly
to the sidelines, and ultimately out of town.

Economics certainly played a factor as well. While Dunfield gives good bang for the buck on his
$86,000 (all currency U.S.) salary – most memorably popping up for the surprise
winner in Wednesday’s 3-2 win over Vancouver – de Guzman was an expensive afterthought in the
last year of a deal at more than $1.9-million a season. While only $335,000 of
that counted against this year’s cap of $2.6-million, it hamstrung the team in
its ability to go out and recruit some big-name talent from Europe, particularly
for its back four, who have typically all been 24 and under.

That is where Mariner is looking to bolster his team, and with a DP slot in
his back pocket, the deal to bring in veteran leadership from Europe is
imminent. It can’t come soon enough for a team that has the worst goals-against
average in the league.

“Sometimes these things can take hours. Sometimes it can take days,” he said
of the coming acquisition. “Hopefully not more than a week.”

While Mariner wouldn’t say if Dallas was picking up all of de Guzman’s remaining contract – “I’m not willing
to get into that,” was all he said, which told its own story – he did confirm
that it would be picking up the entire remaining cap hit for the season.
Toronto’s cap flexibility is further improved by netting Wiedeman in return – as a Generation adidas player, the 22-year-old’s $123,000 salary
doesn’t count against the cap.

The Oakland native was drafted 21st overall by Dallas in the 2010 Superdraft and has made eight appearances in MLS,
although he has yet to find his name on the scoresheet.

Toronto FC wasn’t the only Canadian MLS club tinkering with its roster
Friday.

The Vancouver Whitecaps acquired midfielder and Jamaican international Dane
Richards, as well as allocation money, from the New York Red Bulls in exchange
for striker Sebastien Le Toux. Richards will join his new teammates in
Chicago for Saturday’s match against the Fire at Toyota Park.

Also, the Montreal Impact shipped defender Tyson Wahl to the Colorado Rapids for an international
roster spot for the 2014 season.

The move marked the fourth roster move made by the Impact in the past seven
days.

Topics

Next story

| Learn More

Discover content from The Globe and Mail that you might otherwise not have come across. Here we’ll provide you with fresh suggestions where we will continue to make even better ones as we get to know you better.